Hero Indian Super League (ISL) champions Mohun Bagan Super Giant have added a big name to their foray of attacking talent with the addition of Albanian international Armando Sadiku, on Sunday. This is set to be Sadiku’s first stint in Asia, having spent the majority of his professional football career in Europe apart from a stint in Bolivia in 2021.

Sadiku is no short of experience with the 32-year-old having tallied over 400 club appearances in a career spanning 15 years. Besides that, the centre-forward has also made a name for himself on the international stage.

We bring you five things that you need to know about Mohun Bagan Super Giant’s first foreign signing of the season.

1) Secured Albania’s first-ever win at a major international competition

Sadiku made the headlines at the UEFA Euro 2016 tournament, scoring the first goal for his country at a major international tournament against Romania. His decisive goal eventually sealed the first win for Albania at a major international tournament.

Following narrow defeats to Switzerland and France, Sadiku headed home in his side’s final group stage game against Romania, ensuring a third-place finish for Albania. Despite a historic win against Romania, Albania could not advance to the knockout stages after not being among the four-best third-placed teams in the group stages due to a negative goal difference. However, Sadiku ensured a sweet end to the tournament for the minnows.

2) Albania’s joint-highest current active goalscorer

With 12 goals in 38 appearances for the Albanian national team, Sadiku is tied with teammate Sokol Cikalleshi, as the joint-highest goalscorers among active footballers for the national team. Sadiku netted his previous national team goal back in March 2019, finding the net during his side’s 3-0 win against Andorra in the Euro 2020 qualifiers.

He is four goals away from Erjon Bodgani’s tally of 18 goals, who is Albania’s all-time leading goalscorer.

3) Over 150 club career goals

Having played in six different European leagues and in South America - undergoing a stint with Bolivia’s Club Bolivar - Sadiku has netted 150 plus goals in his professional club career.

Majority of his goals have come in the Swiss Challenge League, Switzerland’s second division, with over 50 goals to his name. Sadiku represented clubs such as FC Logano, FC Zurich and FC Locarno in the Swiss Challenge League. The striker last played for Spanish club FC Cartagena in the second division, netting eight goal in 31 appearances.

4) Appearances in the UEFA Europa League and the UEFA Champions League Qualifiers

Sadiku has played at the top level, featuring in the top division in countries like Albania, Switzerland, Poland, Spain, Turkey and Bolivia. He has also featured in famous cup competitions like the Copa Del Rey and the Copa Libertadores.

Sadiku made just two appearances for Legia Warszawa in the UEFA Champions League third round qualifiers during the 2017-18 season. He scored the only goal for his side over two legs as Warszawa were eliminated by Kazakhstan’s FC Astana 4-1 on aggregate.

The centre-forward later featured in the 2017-18 UEFA Europa League group stage, netting one goal in three appearances for FC Zurich as his campaign was cut short owing to an injury. The Polish side finished third in their group, failing to qualify for the knockout stages.

5) Blood relation with Xhaka brothers

Sadiku is also the cousin of Swiss midfielder and former Arsenal star Granit Xhaka and FC Basel’s Taulant Xhala. Born to Albanian parents with Kosovan roots, the Xhaka brothers grew up in Switzerland and were eligible to play for either of the three countries.

The duo represented Switzerland at the youth level, but while Granit continued to play for Switzerland, elder brother Taulant opted to play for Albania. Midfielder Taulant has been playing along with Sadiku for the Albanian senior football team since 2014.

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